Review: 2023 Honda Passport

Honda’s Goldilocks SUV shines with its utility and excellent driving dynamics.

Review and photos by Tom Sedens. There are always more photos at the end of my reviews.

Pricing: 2023 Honda Passport

Base price (Trailsport trim): $49,270

Options: $300 premium colour charge

Freight: $1,950

A/C tax: $100

Price as tested: $51,620

Although it hasn’t been their hottest seller, Honda’s Passport, a Goldilocks-sized SUV situated between the perennial best-selling CR-V and the bigger Pilot, is a great vehicle that offers up a lot of good things.

Exterior

At first glance, the overall effect of the Passport’s proportions is somewhat tall-ish styling. There are some typical Honda corporate cues – the aggressive grille and lighting will all look familiar. Plastic cladding along the bottom of the vehicle gives it a rugged appearance without going overboard.

All exterior lighting is LED.

Our whole family liked our review sample’s Sonic Grey paint. The trim and badging is all blacked out, which is a nice touch.

You’ll find very solid and ready-to-use roof rails up top. At the back, there’s some newfound swagger thanks to the almost-comically massive exhaust tips – they definitely look like the business.

The wheel wells are filled with handsome 18-inch rims with 245/60-sized tires.

Interior/Tech/Convenience

The aforementioned tall-ish styling isn’t just an illusion – it’s a step up into the cabin. Nothing uncomfortably high, but higher than the average crossover these days. The result is a great view of the road ahead and the world around you.

The interior styling is what we’ve seen from Honda SUVs for a while, and I’m guessing it won’t be long for this world. Behind the newly updated HR-V, CR-V and Pilot will likely come an updated Passport. Materials are fine, but nothing special. There is enough soft-touch plastic to feel nice enough.

Behind the heated steering wheel is a hybrid digital/analog dash combining a 7-inch screen and some traditional gauges.

The highly comfortable heated leather seats are power-adjustable and have adjustable arm rests. This trim gets orange stitching and the Trailsport logo on the headrests.

The 8-inch centre touchscreen feels pretty reactive and works fine. That said, it is Honda’s previous generation interface so it looks and feels a bit dated (because it is). Thankfully Honda has included a volume knob as all other functions are integrated into the screen. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard.

The audio system sounds good and there’s a tri-zone climate control system.

A standard size sunroof can be found overhead along with tons of headroom – I would love to see a huge panoramic roof here.

When it comes to driver assistance technology, it felt like the Passport was loaded up with most of the generally found goodies – a back-up camera, parking sensors, cross-traffic monitoring, blind spot monitoring, forward collision warning and collision mitigation braking, road departure mitigation, lane departure warning and lane keeping assist and adaptive cruise control.

Rear Seats

There’s seating for three in the back. I generally pooh-pooh the middle seating position, but in the Passport it’s wide enough to comfortably accommodate an adult and the floor is flat, so this would easily and comfortably work for three adults. The seats slide fore and aft and recline. At 5’10”, I found plenty of legroom and a good amount of headroom. The two outboard seats are heated.

Rear passengers get a separate climate control panel with adjustable air vents, an armrest that folds down containing two cupholders and plenty of charging options, thanks to a 115V household plug and two USB ports. Even more storage can be found thanks to the dual-level door bins and further cupholders in the rear doors.

Storage

I loved the large storage bin in the centre console. It will hold a lot, and there’s a sliding organizer tray at the top and a scrolling lid to cover it all up if you want to.

At the front of the console is a wireless charging mat, and above it in the centre stack is a small storage slot which I’d consider almost useless as it won’t hold much and it’s hard plastic so anything in there will just come flying out. Front doors have a number of useful storage bins and space to put stuff into.

The rear opening is accessed via the power tailgate, revealing the huge 1430L trunk. It has a high load floor and some decent underfloor storage. I liked the organizational bins on the sides and four very solid tie-down loops. Accessories can be powered by the 12V power outlet.

If you need more room, the rear seats fold down in a 60/40 split and can be released from the trunk, creating a massive 2854L cargo space.

Under the Hood

Lugging the Passport around is the good old 3.5L V6 putting out 280 HP and 262 lb.ft of torque, paired with a 9-speed automatic transmission and an all-wheel drive system. Fuel economy is rated at 12.5/9.8 L/100 km (city/highway) – we averaged 12.8 L/100 km during a frigid Edmonton week in the Passport.

The Drive

We were grateful for the standard remote engine starter – it’s a winning feature on cold winter mornings.

The good old V6 doles out prodigious power, launching the Passport from a standstill and in every driving situation. I’m certain we’re not going to see these V6s for long, but for now, they are pretty sweet powerplants.

Honda has stuck with their push-button gear selector for the smooth and generally intelligent transmission – while I do like the space it creates, I’m still not a fan of how slow it is, particularly when you’re doing 3-point turns in a parking lot, etc. You can use the paddle shifters if that makes you feel sporty, although it really does nothing for the driving experience. If you want gears to be held longer, you can put the transmission in Sport mode.

There are several drive modes the driver can choose from as well, allowing the vehicle to adjust for different surfaces like snow, mud or sand.

I really enjoyed the Passport’s suspension set-up. It balances a firmer ride (which always remains comfortable) with surprisingly athletic, sporty handling. There’s a lot going on to control the height and weight of the vehicle, including a sophisticated rear multi-link suspension. It’s quite agile in the city and I really enjoyed the driving experience.

The road, engine and wind noise was incredibly well dampened, even at highway speeds and with winter tires. When accelerating, the V6 sounds fantastic.

Towing capacity varies from 3500 pounds (1588 kg) to 5000 pounds (2268 kg), pending on the optional tow package.

The Verdict

WAF (Wife Approval Factor) was pretty high. She liked the driving position and the vehicle’s road manners, and found it easy to live with.

That was my big take-away too – the Passport is likely the SUV most Pilot buyers really need. That third row is only useful for small kids and if it’s not something that’s used a lot, this is the right vehicle for you. It’s very spacious front and back, as well as in terms of cargo space. It’s slightly smaller in terms of length, but has the same powertrain so it has excellent performance.

I really like the Passport and would have it on my shopping list – and this middle Trailsport trim is the way to go.